Times are getting tougher for households. Not only are our monthly bills rising along with inflation but now there is talk of possible interest rate hikes. Food prices have risen nearly ten percent over the last year and petrol is up over 14 percent. How can we even begin to talk about Savings Month in an environment where most households are struggling just to make ends meet?

The thing with saving is that without it, households have little chance of ever accumulating real wealth. Over the last ten years, an investment in the JSE would have seen your savings increase by 400 percent! This is over one of the worst stock market crashes in our history.

Even taking inflation into account you would have grown your wealth by over 200 percent in today's value - no matter how many extra hours you put into work each week you would never be able to work as hard as your money can at growing your wealth. It may be tough but you need to start paying yourself first.